Downloading/Transferring a Style .sty file to my Yamaha PSR-SX900

Henry StylePlayerFan

Hello Styleplayer,

I recently purchased my Yamaha PSR-SX900. I'm learning as quickly as I can but there are still many features that I need help with. I have been trying to download a style to make sure that I know how to do it. I have tried using both a USB stick and the transfer via the USB cable going directly from my HP Laptop running Windows to my PSR-SX900, but neither of them has worked so far.

As a test I have tried to download the Style for David Bowie's Let's Dance. When I download to the stick the file first downloads to my hard drive as a zip file of 13 kb. When I move it to my stick it shows up as a 34 kb .sty file. When this happened I thought I would be able to successfully insert my USB stick to my SX900, but it did not recognize the file. I tried to read it by selecting Playlist, then User, then USB 1. Many files from the stick are visible but not the David Bowie .sty file. What do you think I'm doing wrong? Why do you think it is not visible?

I'm trying to be exhaustive and detailed in my problem description because I suspect that there are others that would be experiencing similar symptoms and any responses should be helpful to them as well.

The styleplayer.io site does recognize that I am using an SX900 and somehow it sees that I have a Steinberg UR44C connected to my laptop and it does give me an option to transfer the file rather than download it. I have connected my SX-900 using a USB cable that has the squarish connector on one end and then the regular end to a USB splitter connected to my HP laptop. I select the Instant Transfer option, the little wheel spins briefly and then I get the following error in red, "s: MidiCommandHandler timed out". Can you help me with this?

Which method should I be using to get the style files from your site to my SX900?

Thank you for your wonderful efforts in putting this much needed site together and thank you to you and those in the community that can help troubleshoot my problem.

StylePlayer

Henry StylePlayerFan Hello, and thank you for such detailed description. Let me write detailed instructions so I can then refer people with similar questions to this thread.

1. How to load a user style using USB stick.
When you download a zip file you need to unzip it first. Can either right click on it and select "extract all", or double click to get into the archive, then drag the file out with a mouse or use ctrl+c/ctrl+v and copy it to a USB stick.
After a USB stick is inserted into a keyboard you need to click on a style selector (as if you are selecting a different factory style), then click on User menu at the top (next to Preset), then click on USB, and should see a style there.

2. How to load a user style though a USB cable:

Install "USB-MIDI Driver" from Yamaha (currentl;y v.3.1.4)
Use USB-B cable (square shaped) and insert it to "To Host" port on your keyboard
Make sure the cable is connected before you turn on the keyboard (if already turned on, need to turn off and on)
Open a browser (Chrome/Firefox work the best, IE is not stable, Safari doesn't work) and go to the style download page on this site (if you had the browser already opened before you connected the keyboard it's better to restart the browser)
The first time you visit the style download page a popup should appear asking to give the site permissions to access your midi devices, need to allow it. If you missed this popup the first time, look for a keyboard looking icon (black and white piano keys) in your browser's URL bar to open it again.
Your keyboard should be selectable now under midi in/out in the "transfer" section. You need to select your keyboard under both In and Out (it might have a generic name like digital workstation 1). Usually you would have 1 input and 2 output ports available in a keyboard, need to select the 1st one as input and the 1st one as output.
After that if you did everything in correct order the file should transfer and you should see a green confirmation popup listing under what filename it was saved.
To find this style inside your keyboard need to go into the style selector (click on a style name), then switch to User section at the top (next to Preset), and you should see it there.

Currently this method works for PSR-SX series and later.
It is also confirmed to work on Android through Chrome via a USB cable. Whether it works on Android wirelessly through Bluetooth is unknown.
It doesn't work on IOS. It works on Mac through non-Safari browser.

Henry StylePlayerFan

Thank you for your prompt reply. I have spent some time working on this but I don't have it fully working yet.

1. Loading a user style using USB stick
I was able to do this using your suggestions. I downloaded David Bowie's Let's Dance to two USB sticks. The SX900 was able to read the .sty file from one of the sticks and not the other even though I followed exactly the same procedure for both. I was able to have fun playing this style and now I would like to know how I can get it stored permanently on my keyboard rather than having it resident on the USB stick. I know that I should be able to figure that out from Yamaha support materials but if any other community members can help me with this it would be greatly appreciated.

2. Loading a user style through a USB cable
I was able to download and install the USB-MIDI Driver. I'm using Chrome on my HP laptop and my keyboard was selectable under the midi in/out of the "transfer" section. After that I tried to transfer several files but I did not get a transfer option with any of the handful of files that I tried. I was able to select download which brought the files to my desktop and then I would have to extract the zipped file and use my USB stick to transfer the files. Interestingly the files I randomly selected were not in .sty format. I'm wondering if there is a way that I can specify that I am looking for .sty files and if that is the reason that I was not getting a transfer option.

I'm happy that I was able to at least get one file loaded to my PSR-SX900 keyboard and to play with it successfully. That indicates to me that I am on the right track. An interesting sidenote, a couple of times I was stuck and I asked the Perplexity AI program to help me troubleshoot and it was very useful.

Thanks again for your help. I will work on this again tomorrow night.

kaimei19

Henry StylePlayerFan

Regarding Item 1.

Connect the USB with the downloaded Let's Dance style file to your PSR SX900.
At the keyboard, navigate to the folder of USB stick, in the USER area so you can see the style file.
Select "File"from the Options at top of screen - The "File Edit" window will open,
Press "Copy". The window closes.
Highlight the Lets Dance style file
Press "Copy" (The style file is copied to memory)
Navigate to the area/folder in the USER area where you wish to store the file
Press "Copy Here"

It seems like a rigmarole when written out like this but eventually one gets used to doing it.. In future, note that in Step #5 you can highlight multiple files and thus copy a number of files at a time. Also note there is a "Move" option which will achieve the same outcome - but remove the original(s) from its source.

StylePlayer

Henry StylePlayerFan I downloaded David Bowie's Let's Dance to two USB sticks. The SX900 was able to read the .sty file from one of the sticks and not the other even though I followed exactly the same procedure for both.

It's probably because the other usb stick is not formatted with the supported file system. There should be an option somewhere inside a keyboard to format the usb drive (this will delete everything on that usb stick).

Henry StylePlayerFan I'm using Chrome on my HP laptop and my keyboard was selectable under the midi in/out of the "transfer" section. After that I tried to transfer several files but I did not get a transfer option with any of the handful of files that I tried.

Can you please clarify the part about not getting the transfer option. Do you mean the transfer button on the site is disabled (non-clickable)? It should become clickable right after you select the midi in/out ports. Did you see that popup about giving the browser access to your midi devices? What values do you see under midi in/out selectors?
Maybe try restarting the browser once again, not sure why it would be not available.

The file extension doesn't matter, they should all work the same.

Henry StylePlayerFan

kaimei19 Thank you! Worked like a charm. Well explained. I'm sure this will be very useful for myself and many others. Thanks again.